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Being one of those alleged anti-science conservatives, as was mentioned in my last post, today I have the latest development in anti-science global warming skepticism. This information comes from that noted anti-science organization - NASA. This article is titled, New NASA Data Blows Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism:

Every once in a while, I read something and think to myself, "I wish I had written that". Today's featured column, by conservative writer John Hawkins, is one of those times. Here is his column in it's entirety. It is called, 7 Promises I Make To Liberals:

One thing I've learned about President Obama - when he rails against "politics as usual", as he did in his redundant primetime speech to the country last night, you can rest assured that he will engage in politics as usual, relentlessly. The President had nothing new to say on the subject of the debt limit ceiling last night, but he made a campaign speech on television anyway. Obama carried on about how a "balanced approach" must be used in cutting spending and the deficit. He carried on about how revenue increases must be included as part of that balanced approach, as he has for the last couple months (prior to that the President was perfectly content to raise the debt limit with NO deficit reduction measures included). The President did his politics as usual routine, blaming Bush and Republicans for basically everything. Nothing new there either.

Here's the kicker. After going public for the nth time about how Republicans are intransigent for not raising revenues as part of the debt limit deal, it turns out that the White House had already endorsed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) plan, which included NO REVENUE INCREASES. This means that when the President was standing in front of the American people railing against the Republicans for not raising taxes, he had already backed a Democrat plan that didn't raise taxes. It doesn't get more "politics as usual" than that, or more dishonest.

The Senate voted down the House's Cut, Cap, And Balance plan by a straight party line vote of 51-46. Naturally, Democrats were against cutting spending, capping spending, and balancing the budget, while Republicans favored those things. This marks the second time the Democrat-led Senate has killed a Republican-led House proposal that would have solved the debt limit crisis and put America on a path toward fiscal stability. The Dems earlier killed the Republican House budget, aka, the Ryan plan.

Now we move on to a vote on the Senate Democrat plan....oh sorry, I forgot, THE DEMOCRATS DON'T HAVE A PLAN. They have never proposed one, just as they have not proposed a budget in over two years. Senate Democrats even voted unanimously against President Obama's budget, which failed in the Senate by a vote of 97-0. Such courageous leaders, these Senate Democrats. NOT ! If a debt limit agreement is not reached, I propose the first people we stop paying are Senate Democrats.

Insane The New Sane:"The same politicians who spent $1.7 trillion more than they collected, in just this year alone, say the problem is that private citizens are not paying enough. ... [B]ecause the political class has made the national debt so high, it is able to insist that taking a chance on the power of liberty is an irresponsible gamble. Because the government lives so far beyond its means, it would be irresponsible to provide it with reduced means. This is how we have reached the madness of a moment when the national debt is used as an argument against spending reductions, or growth-oriented tax and regulatory policies. The insane problem becomes a weapon against rational solutions." --columnist John Hayward

That radical right-wing lunatic fringe known as the Tea Party has led the way to the introduction of House legislation known as H.R. 2560, aka Cut, Cap, And Balance. Wait until you get a load of what these Republican wingnuts are proposing:

You can always tell the statesman from the politician. The politician is the one who manipulates, deceives, and spins. The politician is the person with his finger in the wind, constantly trying to gauge public opinion so he knows what to say or do, in order to win the next election. The politician is the person who depends on you not remembering what he said or did yesterday, when he contradicts his own words and actions today. We have lots of politicians in Washington D.C.

As the political class bickers over the debt ceiling, I can't help but wonder - How did we get to trillion+ dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see ? How did this country get so far off track ? Could you have even imagined trillion+ dollar deficits prior to 2009 ? I couldn't.

The recession is the obvious answer, but it goes beyond that. The recession technically ended in the middle of 2009, but try telling that to the American people when unemployment is still 9.2%. The recession may have ended, but the recovery has been anemic, and this country's finances are in the crapper (which explains why the recovery is anemic. The future don't look so bright, and the people with the money know it).

In 2010, Republicans won the midterm elections by promising to cut federal spending without raising taxes. So far, the Republicans have attempted to do exactly what they promised to do. Some Republicans have even offered further tax cuts in the hope it would stimulate job creation. They've done these things at the risk of their own political careers, because talking about cutting spending in general is something the voters like, but when actual spending cuts are specifically proposed, the voters tend to like it a lot less, especially if the cuts affect them personally. Most people like their own gravy train. It's the gravy train of the other fellow they have a problem with. Whether you agree with the Republicans or not, at least they have been attempting to deal with our two biggest problems, deficits and jobs, while holding to their campaign promises.

Until very recently, Democrats have been willing to do little about the deficits, other than complain about what the Republicans were doing. The Dems have been playing politics instead, angling for an advantage in 2012. But with the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads in the form of the debt ceiling, the Republicans forced the hand of the Democrats. So the Democrats held out a carrot and came up with a $4 trillion deficit reduction plan. President Obama held out the same carrot, even going so far as proposing raising the retirement age (not new for Democrats), along with other unspecified cuts to Social Security and Medicare (that would probably never happen). But the carrot had some strings attached. If the Republicans grabbed the carrot and went along with the Democrats, they would have to break their campaign promises and agree to $2 trillion in tax increases. Then the Democrats would use that broken promise against the Republicans in the 2012 elections, much as they did when they used "read my lips, no new taxes" against President Bush Sr. in 1992, after Bush went along with a tax increase in return for Democrat promises of spending cuts that never materialized. Gotcha.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned that not raising the debt ceiling would be "catastrophic". He said it would lead to millions of job losses, a collapse of America's credit rating, huge increases in the interest rate, and a devaluation of the dollar. Geithner may be exaggerating, but he's correct about the negative effects in general.

A couple days later, a CBS poll asked it's viewers if the debt ceiling should be increased. A whopping 69% said NO. I can only assume the CBS viewing public didn't really understand what they were being asked.

The Democrats in Congress may not be able to do their jobs and produce a budget, but they have finally been embarrassed into producing a plan to address our record deficits. All hail the Democrats ! It's about time, since the Dems control the Executive Branch and the Senate. In other words, the Dems are the majority. The Republicans only control the House.

The first thing I noticed about the Democrat deficit plan was...it doesn't get rid of the deficits. Here's the Washington Post's charitable description of the Democrat effort:

President Obama's thursday meeting with Congressional leaders didn't resolve the issues associated with the imminent debt ceiling crisis. More meetings will be held on sunday.

Make no mistake. If the debt ceiling isn't raised, it WILL wreak havoc on this nation. I've been hearing some politicos, mostly conservative ones, saying the country could still operate if the debt ceiling isn't raised. This is poppycock, and it's dangerous poppycock. Yes, the country still could operate without going further into debt, but that doesn't meant we should operate that way. Without a debt ceiling increase, government services would have to be seriously curtailed (we're currently borrowing over 40 cents of every dollar the federal government spends). Without a debt ceiling increase, 40% of the federal government would effectively shut down.

This is a followup to my previous post about Operation Fast And Furious (aka, Project Gunwalker, Project Gunrunner), where the ATF allowed guns to be purchased illegally in the U.S.A, and then sent to Mexican drug cartels. It looks like funding for that sorry operation came from...are you ready ?...Obama's stimulus plan !

Since Republican John Kasich became the Governor of Ohio in January, he has made a lot of enemies. The unions hate him. The press hates him. The education establishment hates him. It goes without saying that Democrats hate him. According to the letters to the editor I read in the Akron Beacon Journal, lots of people hate him. Kasich has slashed government spending, which invariably generates animosity from the slashees. People don't like it when their government subsidization (aka, taxpayer funding) is diminished, or disappears completely. So lots of people are mad at John Kasich. I have heard many people say Kasich is the worst, just terrible.

But Kasich was elected to govern our state, not to win popularity contests. That means he is supposed to solve problems. The two biggest problems Ohio faced when Kasich took office were - 1) a high unemployment rate, and, 2) an $8 billion budget deficit. Before we tar and feather the guy, perhaps we should take a look at how he's done tackling our biggest problems.

Now that Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) is making some noise in the GOP Iowa primary, the attacks from the left have begun in earnest. No surprise there. It's to be expected.

After reading a half dozen or so attack pieces from the left against Bachmann, you begin to pickup the common threads. Thus far, the left is trying to portray Bachmann as a evangelical dim bulb anti-feminist who makes a lot of false claims. They say she went to a lightweight college to get her law degree (as if it's easy to get a law degree and pass the bar exam no matter where you go to college). For the record, Bachmann got a B.A. from Winona State University, then went to law school at Oral Roberts (now Regent University), and received her Masters in law from William And Mary Law School. If Bachmann is an idiot, she sure fooled a lot of colleges and professors. After college, Bachmann went to work for the IRS as a tax attorney, but I won't hold that against her. I guess Bachmann's Masters degree isn't sufficient for the liberal blogger elites who work part-time at Starbuck's while still living in their parents basements. She doesn't measure up to their standards. Heck, I bet Bachmann doesn't even know how to make a half-caf double mocha latte !

Liberals are puzzled by the way conservatives and libertarians prattle on about economic freedom. Liberals want the opposite of economic freedom. They want the iron fist of the government to exert centralized command and control over economic activity. That view is puzzling to me. I wonder how any American can accept such a view, but many apparently do. Liberals must take American wealth for granted, as if it will always be there no matter what. They couldn't be making a bigger mistake, especially these days when most countries are competing with us.

Because liberals also believe the evil Koch brothers are controlling the minds of we the people on the economic right, I now present a video from...the Charles Koch Foundation ! It is called Economic Freedom And Quality Of Life: